The present disclosure relates generally to communication networks, and more particularly, to Virtual Port Channels (VPCs) configured at network devices.
High availability is a feature desired at each layer of a network design. Data centers often connect access switches to two aggregation switches to provide high availability features at the device and network level. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) provides loop-free forwarding topology and high availability at the protocol level. STP operates to block the forwarding state of a redundant path during normal operation and provides fast switchover to the redundant path if a failure occurs in a primary path. However, STP limits traffic throughput in the case of server to server communications due to the blocking of alternate ports. The amount of server to server communication has recently increased for new data center applications. Thus, high bisectional bandwidth (Layer 2 multipathing) is an important feature along with high availability.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.